Rule 12

Rule 12

A rule of the Athenaeum Club allowing the Committee, without ballot, to elect certain distinguished people as extraordinary members. The 1908 version included Princes of the Blood Royal, Cabinet Ministers, bishops, the Speaker of the House of Commons, judges, and foreign ambassadors or ministers with sufficient residence at the Court of St James’s. The rule reflected the Club’s nineteenth-century practice of recognising prominent figures through special election. It is now effectively covered by Rule 5.